RWBY: The Kingdom of Vale: The Beginning
by Gaster Fox
Summary: Fantasy AU, in a world where war seems to be close, and everyone has knives at someone's throat, we will see through the eyes of several characters within this world and how their tales play out. Will they die? Probably. Will they tell interesting stories? Definitely.
1. Chapter 1: Side Weiss

Chapter One

Wanderers

"You sure you know where we're going Velvet?" Said Yang for the nth time, knowing full well that it was very annoying to me.

"Grrr" Was the noise I made.

Part of my anger was also the smell around me, while it was tempered by the rain, it smelled blaking awful!

The forest around us gave off the smell of a dead animal, along with a general smell that said something died out here.

"Just calm down, Yang, we're just ... I don t know where we are at all guys". Velvet admitted, her rabbit ears that marked her as a faunus falling down on her head, her boots and gloves made of metal plate shaking with noise.

Her ears had the advantage of making sure her white hood never fell down, though her bandana that she uses to cover her mouth, on the other hand, kept falling down no matter what she did to keep it up.

"Must be cause of the forest, just impossible to tell where ya bloody are ." Responded Yang in her black attire, with a cloak, hood and cloth mask.

Yang was right, as I very much hate to admit, it was difficult to tell where you were when everything looked the damn same, the forest was gloomy and dark, along with a mist which was not there the first time we went through the forest, which may be the reason we can't find our way through it now.

"I'll lead the way, guys!" I stated with my impressive confidence.

"Velvet's the only one of us who can read a map properly, remember?"

My confidence was very quickly and easily shattered into little itty-bitty pieces on the ground.

"Oh shut up, Yang, I can use my magic to lead us out!" I shouted.

I will show him! I have amazing magic skills!

"You can barely cause light to appear from that fancy staff of yours, what makes you think you can lead us out of a forest?"

As annoying as Yang was, it was hard to say she was wrong, I failed to properly cast a light spell to blind The Emperor's guards, which meant that I nearly botched our attempt to kill the royal bastard.

"Well, I don't see you helping!"

"I killed The Emperor, along with that, I'm holding our only good light source." She said back with confidence.

"All right you two, stop fighting!"

Somehow, those simple words from Velvet stopped both of us right there; now the group was simply silent.

Angry Velvet was scary.

The forest was silent too, as if it was a living, breathing and moving entity, which it was not, at least not one living, breathing and moving entity anyhow.

"Anyone hungry?" I said, trying to stop the awkwardness that had grown from the silence.

"Would love an apple" Velvet responded.

"I'll have anything at this point, White"

I hated that nickname, not because it was a bad nickname, it was actually quite decent; it was the fact that Yang used it, I am Weiss!

I threw an apple at Velvet and she caught it without looking once; Yang, on the other hand, had a bit more trouble.

"Damn it to Tartarus!" Screamed Yang, as she failed to catch the piece of spicy meat that I threw to her.

"It's all muddy now!"

Of course, it was, it fell in the mud dummy; rogue or not, you could never, ever catch a bag of goodies even if it was handed to you, you big idiot.

"I'll hand you the water if you want," I stated.

"Ha ha ha HA, give it here." Yang said with a hint of aggression.

"Yang" spoke Velvet.

"Yeah yeah, sorry White"

"Jerk" I whispered.

"What was that, White?!"

"I said j-"

Suddenly Velvet was motioning us to be quiet; there was something very wrong at the moment.

Yang pulled out her bloodstained dagger from its sheath.

I noticed that I had the feeling that we were being watched, I don't know who or what, but something was watching us, something from the forest.

I saw that the others gave off the same feeling.

Something ran past from one tree to another.

We started to move quickly, as fast as we possibly could, away from the thing that was watching us, stalking us, hunting us down as if we were foxes and it was the foxhound.

"Keep moving!" I shouted.

There were loud thumps as we ran across the muddy pathway that led to what might be our only way out of this situation.

"We are! We are!"

"I see something!"

"In the distance!"

I saw something too; it looked like a tower, perhaps a watchtower of a village.

"Go for it!"

"But it might be a trap!"

"We have no other choice, Yang!"

"Stop talking, keep running!" Vel shouted

We ran towards the seemingly fine village.

It was not until we were very close that realized the state of the village.

"The whole village seems completely pillaged!"

"It will give us some protection from our pursuers!"

"What protection, there's barely any walls left!"

"They won't be able to sneak up on us!"

"You sure, White?"

"Yes I am sure!"

We finally reached the wooden walls of the village; we entered through one of the many, many holes that were in the walls.

"Whatever did this was powerful." very powerful stated Velvet.

There was no argument about that statement, as it was clear from the rotten corpses and half-destroyed houses that whatever did this could kill all of us in seconds.

I just hope that whatever it was, it was not still here in the village waiting for new victims.

What would master Port do in this situation?

Probably hide in his tower and wait for the pursuer to go away, now that I think about it, the bloody lazy, good for nothing bastard.

I pull out my staff and get ready to mutter a water spell that will knock back anyone that gets close.

Velvet readied her walking stick, it might not seem like much, but I have seen her kill soldiers with it.

We soon turned our backs to each other, then pushed them together, this was our only way of watching for attacks from all directions.

We waited...

A minute passed...

Another minute passed...

Then there was the sound of something swiftly and smoothly flowing through the very misty air.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

I turned to see Velvet, on her knees with a makeshift-looking arrow protruding from her left arm, her face contorted in pain not at all in any way or shape imaginable to Yang and I, as neither of us have suffered such a horrific wound in our entire lives.

Well, in the sense that I never have, not sure about Yang, she lived in the Capital.

Anything can happen there that could make this wound a minor inconvenience.

But I shouldn't focus on that now.

"Velvet!"

"White!"

I turned to look at Yang.

"We need to help him!"

I couldn't hear the sound of the torch anymore through the rain.

It suddenly dawned on me why she called out my name.

Our torch was out.

"Not good." I said.

Paired with the mist, that means it will be damn near impossible to see at all out here in the middle of the village.

"Not good at all, Ya think?!" Shouted Yang.

"Yes!" I replied back.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

I have only realized that we still do not know at all how to get out of this damn large forest full of evil monstrous horrors that want to kill us!

I also realized very quickly that there were very, very worrying growling noises coming from said evil monstrous horrors from outside the walls of the ruined village and in the large misty, scary forest that smells like death had an off day while working at a swamp.

"Ah Shit"

I could not agree more with you at this moment Yang.

Then they charged at us.


	2. Chapter 2: Side Jaune

Chapter Two

Guards

"You hear about Geralt, Jaune?" Said Scarlet passively.

"No." I said immediately.

I've never even heard of a man named Geralt, yet Scarlet expects me to know of them regardless.

"Come on, you don't remember Geralt!"

"No, I don't remember meeting a man named Geralt."

"Scarred eye, white hair?"

"No."

"Had two long silver swords?"

"Not ringing even a single bell, Scarlet."

"Well, he went and got himself executed for stealing bread from the baker yesterday."

I blinked my eyes.

"What?"

"Yeah, the bastard stole some bread and the king decided to have the sod executed for it, make an example, was what the king said to the crowd watching the thing."

"That seems rather harsh, especially for just stealing a single loaf of bread from the bloody baker." I said.

"People were surprised, even the ones who love watching the executions all the bloody time felt bad for the poor bugger."

It definitely seems as if the King is getting a bit more violent than usual, that is not good at all for anyone who breaks the law, which means he has it in for around 30% of the entire population of the city.

I got a mischievous smile on my face.

"Looks like you're screwed big time, Scarlet."

"What do ya mean by that?" Scarlet asked, slightly confused.

"I bet the King has a whole army of spies all around the city, looking for information to use against people like you so there's an excuse for the King to execute you."

"You're pulling my leg."

"Well we don't know if it's true or not, do we?"

"You're just trying to screw with me, aren't you?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Stop it, you're unnerving me!" Said Scarlet with irritation.

I laugh aloud at his frustration.

"You are just too easy to unnerve!" I said still laughing the entire time.

"Well screw you then!" Scarlet replied back at me in return.

"Oy, get back to work!"

Scarlet and I turned to see who it was.

"I said get back to work, ya gits!"

It was our bloody Sergeant, angry with us as usual.

"Sorry, sir" I said quickly.

"What do ya mean, sorry!?"

"We were just talking about the recent execution sir, that's all." I said quickly to avoid him getting any angrier with us.

He stopped his angry glare and looked down quickly.

This was unusual and weird for him to do this.

"That was a dirty business that was." He said quietly but still loud enough for us to hear him.

"Yeah, a bit too harsh for stealing bread." Replied Scarlet.

"Still, I very much assure you, boys, that the King wouldn't do something like that without good reason." Our Sergeant said to reassure us.

"I hope so, wouldn't want the King to be going mad now."

"I don't think that's a good idea to say out loud, Scarlet." I said.

"Yeah yeah, I hear y-"

"There's something coming out of the forest!" Shouted one of the guards along the wall.

We immediately ran across the walls to the gate that allows outsiders access to the city.

"Is it them?" The Sergeant asked one of the guards.

"Can't tell, too much mist to see them clearly."

"Damn, don't shoot them until we can confirm what they are."

"Yes, sir." Replied the guard.

We watched the large looking figure move through the mist, towards the gate.

As it got closer, we saw that it was not one, but three figures walking towards the gate.

We also saw that the other two were helping one of the figures along.

"I think their just normal people sir." Said one of the guards that were with us.

"One of you go down to the gate and check if they have either the entry fee or papers to get in, now."

Said the Sergeant to the rest of us, with the hint of urgency in his voice.

"I'll go!" I said quickly.

"Me too!" Said Scarlet.

"Be careful." The sergeant said simply.

Scarlet and I went to the door that led off the walls, unlocking the door with a sound of frantic turning of a key.

We moved down the stairs as quickly as realistically possible when in full plate armour along with chainmail underneath.

We reached the end of the stairway, unlocking the door at the bottom and getting to the gate in a quick and frantic run.

The figures had just reached the gate at that point.

"Let us in, please." Said one of the figures, who wore a red cloak, I noticed that she had white hair, marking her as an Atlesian.

What were folks from The Land of Atlas doing here?

I then saw that one of the figures, wearing dark clothing along with a hood, had hazel eyes, marking her as of Valourian ethnicity.

She was carrying the third person in the group, who had animal ears, which meant she was a Faunus.

"You got the papers or do you have the money?" Scarlet asked the group.

"We got the papers." Said the red-cloaked one.

"Show me"

The woman put her hand into her bag, which hung from her side, she pulled out a wrapped up paper and handed it to me.

"Well?" Scarlet asked quizzically.

I unwrapped the paper quickly and intently, reading it to make sure it was not a forgery, which was actually pretty common in this city, so much so that most papers 4 out of 10 times will be fake.

Unless you can tell the fakes from the real ones, guards are rarely given this job.

"It's real." I said with a sigh of relief.

"You sure?"

"Ye-"

I heard someone shouting from atop the wall.

"There's something coming from the forest!"

I looked out into the mist, and as they said, there is something coming from the forest, but it sure as Tartarus does not look in the least bit friendly as it is aggressively running towards the gate at the speed of a very rabid wolf.

I shouted at the people that operate the gate.

"Open the gate now!"

The operators worked quickly to have the gate lifted, the sound of chains straining.

The three strangers got through the entrance, pulling their injured friend along the way to get him to safety.

"It's getting closer!"

The figure, which appeared to be one of the monsters of the forest, was getting closer.

"Close it!"

"Close the gate!"

"Do it now!"

"We're doing it!"

The gate fell down with a thud and the sound of chains being loosened.

"Come on; let's get your friend to the priestess." Said Scarlet, being surprisingly helpful to the strangers.

"Thank you."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Weiss"

Yep, definitely an Atlesian.

"But you can call me White instead."

"Alright, you should go to the tavern for some rest while your friend is fixed up."

"I know; I'm a regular patron at the place."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"How come I've never seen you before?"

"I'm usually there in the morning." White replied.

That explains it instantly.

Most guards, including myself, only go to the tavern at night or the afternoon, usually too drunk to remember anything that happens while their there.

Well, except probably wondering where all their hard-earned money went, but that's beside the point right now.

"You need any more help?"

"No thank you, we'll be just fine now." She responded.

"How'd your friend get hurt?" I asked.

"Take a guess." She said with a hint of aggression.

"Woah, sorry for asking." I said in defense.

"Well I've had a rough day today, not only did I get lost in the forest because of that damn mist, but also I had to survive getting an unwanted ear piercing from some not very friendly monstrosities." She said with anger and frustration in her voice.

"Calm down."

"Sorry, it's just been a really bad day." She said passively while sighing, the aggression gone from her voice.

"I hear ya." Says Scarlet, joining the conversation.

"You lot are the first group to get here while in the mist that weren't missing any body parts."

White showed obvious disgust at Scarlet's comment.

"I bid you two adieu." White said aloud.

Then she turned and walked toward the tavern.

"Wanna go to the pit fights after our shift ends?" Scarlet asked me immediately.

"Sure."

"I hope that lass with the playing cards is still there." Said Scarlet.

I laughed out loud.

"Yeah right, and Princess Cinder will kill her father." I stated with an extra dose of sarcasm in my voice.

"Get back to work!" Shouted our Sergeant.

We both saluted the sergeant.

"Yes, sir!" We said in unison.

We walked back to the stairs, getting right back to doing our rounds until our shift was over.

It was pretty boring.

But hey, that girl with the playing cards was still at the tavern.


	3. Chapter 3: Side Ozpin

Chapter Three

Punishment

Today was not a good day.

The forest was getting more and more dangerous every day now.

There were reports of creatures popping up in it all the time; there were even some reports and evidence of injury and death happening as well.

Along with that, there was the execution that I had to have carried out today.

I'm finally getting fed up with how much crime was happening in my own city.

Heck, for some it was to pass the time when there wasn't anything interesting happening.

I hope that executing that white-haired fellow will make those rotten crooked bastards think more than once before they commit to their 'hobby'.

But now.

I have to focus on my mercenaries.

There are many of them, most not even aware of the others, but all were useful in some way or another.

Assassinations, for instance, were much easier to have performed when your assassins are mostly motivated by nothing but cold metal coins.

However, the downside was that they might not be the brightest lights in the bunch for the job.

For example, the assassins I sent to kill the Emperor failed in their task by killing the wrong person.

However, they were quite close to killing the right one.

So close, in fact, that they probably thought at the moment that they had killed the right one.

Said mercenaries had apparently arrived back in the city yesterday.

They also had apparently had not heard of how dangerous the forest had become, because they happened to come right from the forest to the city.

I have to admit that I can't call them stupid for doing so.

One reason I can't call them stupid for doing so is that most, if not all of those coming from the empire go down that particular route.

The other reason is that, since they were returning from The Empire very recently, they simply wouldn't know that the forest had gotten so horribly unsafe while they had been gone on their mission.

Alas, I simply couldn't put them to death, because despite the fact that they failed, said failure was revealed in the end to be unavoidable.

"My King!"

It was Glynda, the Captain of the City Guard, one of the most competent and skilled swordswoman in the entire city, nothing short of magic could kill this woman.

"Yes, Captain?"

"The assassins are waiting at the major balcony my liege." She replied.

Ah, the balcony.

It overlooks the center of the city, which consequently means that it overlooks the execution guillotine.

"Very well, I shall go to them now."

"May I ask something, my King?!"

"Go ahead, Captain."

"Do you think that executing that poor fellow was a good idea, my liege?"

Dammit.

I wished this question wouldn't have been forced upon me at this point in time!

It's starting to make me have regrets...

I hope Watts doesn't try this.

"It was necessary, Captain."

"Yes, my liege."

"Resume your daily duties, Captain."

"Yes, my King."

She got up and walked away, dutifully, without a single hint of hesitation.

I wish that I even was halfway to being as dedicated to something in life like her.

Though I don't think dedication works well when you are the ruler of a whole kingdom, who would you dedicate yourself to?

Everyone?

No, impossible.

Too many different ideas.

Too many knives in selected backs.

Too many things that will lead to destruction.

Too many people going against the status quo.

Too many stupid decisions made.

Too much death.

Wait.

Stop.

Ozpin, focus.

Focus on what you were doing.

What were you doing?

Going to talk to your assassins!

Yes, that was what you were doing!

"Oh dear."

I need to stop rambling in my head so much.

I walk down one of the many long hallways that are within the castle.

I don't know why the builders made them so long.

Perhaps it was to make the castle look very large when compared to all the other buildings that surrounded the castle.

Though it wasn't much of a challenge to accomplish such a task as most buildings in the city were only one to two floors in height, with that in mind it is safe to say that the builders overdid it by a large margin.

I'm rambling in my head again.

I really need to stop doing that, it could get me killed one of these days.

Hehe.

After several minutes or so of walking, I reach the door that leads to the balcony.

Time to talk.

I open the door.

The three mercenaries were talking among each other.

If I remember them correctly, two of them were probably arguing while the third member of the group, the one with rabbit ears, was trying to calm them down.

I sigh.

I walk up to them casually.

The rabbit-eared one notices me, she immediately slaps both her companion's backs, her metal gauntlets causing them to yelp in pain.

The other two had finally noticed me then.

All three turned towards me and kneeled down, showing their respect to their king and main benefactor of coin.

"My King." Said Weiss, who was wearing a red wizard robe.

"Stay kneeled." I responded

"Yes, my King."

"So, did you kill the Emperor?"

"Yes!"

"Hmm, well, I guess him sending a message to me to watch my back against Atlesian assassins was fake then."

"Wait, what?" Asked Yang, clearly confused.

"You didn't kill the Emperor."

"We did!" Shouted Weiss.

"Yeah, I put my blade through the bloke's back myself!"

"That wasn't the right 'bloke' Yang."

"What?" Replied Yang.

"Then who was it?" Velvet said, speaking her first words ever since the conversation had started.

"The man you killed was, in fact, a body double." I told them.

"A what?" Asked Yang, clearly having no knowledge of what a body double was.

"It's when a leader gets someone else to look like them so the leader doesn't have to worry as much about things like attempts on their life." Velvet explained to her..

Couldn't have said that better myself.

"Now."

All three suddenly stopped speaking and looked at me with eyes of fear.

They obviously thought that I was going to have something horrible done to them.

Those possible horrible things include torture, permanent imprisonment in the dungeons, or just simple and quick public execution.

"I have an idea for what to do with you three."

They very clearly were close to having their undergarments being very wet and dirty, if not already, at the words I just said to them.

"Please no." Muttered Weiss to herself.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to have you be executed or imprisoned or tortured." I told them.

All three looked up with sighs of relief, thankful for my mercy to them.

"Instead, for your punishment, you will travel to the village of Durrintan."

"The Dwarf village?" Asked Velvet.

"The very same."

"Why there?" Asked Weiss this time.

"We haven't had contact with them for over a week now, I need you to go there and find out why."

"Yes, my King!"

"Good, now go." I said.

"We won't fail you!" Shouted Yang as she along with the others made their way through the door and soon to the exit out of the castle.

"We promise!" Shouted Weiss as she ran along with them.

"I hope you don't." I say to myself.

"Or else I'll have no choice but to send you to the dungeons for the rest of your lives."

Wait.

Why am I talking to no one?

I think I might be reaching the age where things like this happen, which just so happens to be the age of forty-five years.

Quite old, when compared to most people who usually die at least five years earlier.

My father died at age thirty-six.

The reason for dying then is that his wife, my mother, the Queen at the time, killed him so she could have control of the Kingdom Of Valour all to herself.

My brother, Oscar, discovered that she was the reason for father's death when he read her diary to me as a joke, but found the horrible truth within those pages.

He got several others along with me in the scheme to avenge our father's death.

In order to do so, we had to kill the Queen.

Unfortunately, our mother expected this.

Therefore, she had my brother assassinated.

It was sad, I was at the funeral; the atmosphere was somber, until the Queen laughed at his corpse, that is.

Thing is, in this World of Fantastical and brutal things we live in, there is a thing that is so powerful and vicious that it was feared by most others.

That thing was known by the name of Karma.

The whole Kingdom revolted against the Queen due to the horrible display that she showed at Brane's funeral, calling her the Mad Queen.

Within a few weeks, said Mad Queen was dead.

She died screaming as revolutionaries came and killed her in the throne room.

They put her head on a spike as well.

The revolutionaries then came to me, as I feared for my life.

They did not kill me like I thought they would.

Instead, they said that I was the new king!

I was surprised, but happy they did not kill me.

I became The King of Vale, and I have ruled The Kingdom of Vale ever since.

I still don't know why no one has tried to kill me yet, though.

I'm rambling again.

I really need to stop doing that.


	4. Chapter 4: Side Weiss

Chapter 4

Dwarves

We were walking down the rocky road that eventually leads to the Dwarf village of Durrintan.

It had taken us two days so far to get most of the way there.

Those two days had been rather uneventful.

Well, besides a lowly witch that had weakly attacked us with a fireball spell, which was the weakest projectile fire spell there was, I extinguished it with a water barrier spell easily.

She died instantly to having Velvet's walking stick swiftly pierce her throat, leaving surprisingly little blood.

We carried on after I collected the mana from her body, which was not much.

"Hey Vel, how much longer till we get there?" The Person who said those words was very obviously Yang.

"I told you already, Yang." Replied Velvet, getting irritated with Yang, which was a first as Velvet wasn't one to get irritated or angry, quite the opposite actually.

"When will we get there, actually?" I ask her.

"Judging by the map, by the end of today." Velvet said.

"Hey, why wouldn't you tell me!" said Yang.

"Because, you asked 10 times in the last two days." Replied Velvet.

Yang had no comeback, just a face of defeat at the fact that Velvet was right.

"Well, you weren't clear enough those 10 times!" Yang said weakly.

"Come on Yang, don't use such weak insults, I thought you were good at verbal fencing!" I said mockingly.

"Don't White!" Said Velvet, surprisingly.

"Okay..." I said, not wanting Velvet's wrath.

"Alright then." Said Velvet, suddenly calm again.

Velvet can still be scary sometimes.

"You think this is a suicide mission? Asked Yang, trying to start a conversation within the party again.

"Maybe, depends on what is wrong with the Dwarf village." I replied.

"What do you think happened?" Asked Yang.

"Probably Vacuoans attacking." I replied.

"You think Vacuoans stopped them from getting anything at all to the King?" Yang asked.

That's a good question.

One that will probably be answered when we arrive at the village.

"I see it!" Shouted Yang.

For once, Yang was right.

The sight of the giant entrance to the village in the side of a mountain was unmistakable.

We had reached Durrintan.

"There's something off about the entrance." Said Velvet.

Sure enough, there was a large hole in the gate that led into Durrintan.

Meaning that something very, very horrible and probably tragic happened in the village.

The same village we had to enter right now.

"You feel like this is a suicide mission yet?" Yang said.

"Damn near close at the moment". I replied.

"We still have to go in." Said Velvet.

Unfortunately, it was clear from Velvet's tone of voice that even she was hesitant to enter.

We reached the gate; it was torn up pretty badly.

What made it worse was the fact that the door was made from metal, meaning something VERY strong or large in size or amount broke it open.

"Who goes first?" Asks Yang, as if not knowing or wanting to acknowledge the obvious answer.

"Okay, I'll be the hero, cowards." Yang said, trying to stave away her fear, but it clearly wasn't working as it was obvious that she was the most terrified out of the three of us.

"I'll go first." Stated Velvet, neither Yang nor I argued.

She stepped into the gaping hole, being cautious the entire time.

When she gave the all clear, I went in next, Yang followed after.

The village was large, full of tall houses, long roads, and many towers reaching the ceiling of the mountain the village was built into.

The houses were basic in the material they were made out of, which was plain oak wood, but the Dwarf carvings of symbols on the walls and doors were simply stunning, they were very beautiful and very mysterious, some were full of round lines ending in sharp points, others with straight lines and round edges.

This was simply a feast for the eyes to see.

"This is something that few non-Dwarfs see." Said Velvet matter of factly, but with the tone of someone who was quite wowed by the Dwarf symbols themselves.

"There's one problem, where is everyone?" Yang's words broke the trance that the symbols had us in.

"Yang's right, White." Said Velvet.

"Well, let's start looking for them then." I said, trying to bring down my fear.

"For who?" Asked Yang.

"Anyone." I replied.

"Like that ominous looking bloke?" Yang said, pointing.

Both Velvet and I looked to where Yang was pointing and saw a black figure down the road.

It was just standing there, staring at us.

Then I saw another one down a different road doing the same exact thing.

"This is getting very creepy, guys." Said Yang.

That was an understatement.

There was a third down another road, but it was moving towards us at a slow pace.

Wait, all three of them were moving towards us now.

This is getting worse by the minute.

"Guys!" Said Velvet, pointing behind us, towards the gate we came in through.

There was a fourth figure, close enough that we could see that it was in rags and looked like it was a rotting corpse, which at this point that could be a possibility.

The fourth one was in front of the hole in the gate, blocking our exit.

They were ambushing us.

"Get your weapons ready!" I shouted to the others.

I readied a water push spell with my staff.

Yang put her hand on her blade; ready to slash at any of the figures should they get too close.

Velvet readied her walking-stick like a pike, having the bottom-end of it up in the air, ready to pierce it through flesh.

We put our backs against each other, now ready to kill any of these creepy demon-like creatures should hey attack, which they most likely will.

This was bad.

The three figures along the roads were now moving at a steady increase in speed, getting faster as they got closer to us.

"They're almost here." I said.

The one at the door hasn't moved an inch. Said Yang, watching our backs against the fourth creature.

The three unholy monsters had reached us.

I threw my spell at the one on the right; it fell back from the blow of the water hitting it.

Velvet blocked two swipes from her opponents, but one swipe got through and hit her left hand, leaving a gash in her plate gauntlet.

She waited till one went for a killing blow, hitting it over the head, causing it to fall to the ground.

She quickly stabbed its neck with her stick, piercing it and causing black blood to pour.

Unfortunately, the other one attacked Velvet.

Fortunately, Yang turned and slashed its chest.

It stepped back and, with a shiver, roared out loud in pain.

Velvet went for the kill and got it in the neck as well, causing it to slump to the ground choking.

All three of us turned to see that the fourth one was now surrounded by several other creatures.

"Crap." Sighed Yang.

I really wish that this won't end with all three of us dead and devoured, with our bones being nibbled on.

Well, maybe I was okay with letting Yang die, but her dying would just mean it being much likelier for the rest of us to be dead with our guts on the walls.

Think White, think!

There has to be a way out this mess!

One thing we had to do was run, and fast.

"Break for it!" I shouted.

All of us ran down one of the roads, our monstrous friends chasing us the whole way.

"They're too fast!" Shouted Velvet.

Velvet was right, at the rate they were running; they would catch us in a minute or two.

"This sucks!" Shouted Yang, her voice having gone a pitch higher.

"No kidding!" I shouted back to him.

We reached a corner in the village; we could perhaps use it to get back to the entrance.

Our feet were slowly but surely failing us in this chase.

We turned again to point us in the direction of the entrance.

I sure as Tartarus hope that these things aren't smart enough to have left one theirs behind at the gate, otherwise we may not make out of this without casualty.

One had caught up to Yang.

She turned and slashed at its throat, cutting it to ribbons and putting that thing down and out for the count.

There were still five or so of the creatures behind us, wouldn't win a fight against them.

We kept running.

Yang jumped over a cart that was in her way, the monster chasing her did the same, but its weight and strength knocked the cart over.

I could see the gate.

We were so close to getting out of this mess.

We could make it!

We could survive this!

Wait!

Do my eyes deceive me?

"There's a couple of them at the gate!" shouted Velvet.

"You got to be kidding me!" I shouted back.

"I really wish I was!" Replied Velvet.

There were two more monsters at the gate, blocking the only way out of this place.

"We need to get them out of the way!" I said to the others.

"Yang, slash the one on the left while Velvet can bash the other away from the entrance!"

"Alrighty then!" Shouted Yang in response.

We charged the monsters while shouting at them.

The point of the shouting was to try to scare them, but we gave up when it was very clear that they weren't afraid of us in the least.

Yang jumped at her target, attacking with a downward slash.

At the same time, Velvet used her walking stick as a club and knocked her target off its feet and away from the entrance.

I turned towards our pursuers and, with most of the mana in my body, which wasn't that much at all, threw a water push spell big enough to hit all of them at once.

"Nero sproxte!" It hit all of them, not only that, but the strength of the water hitting the monsters was tearing them apart a bit.

At least two had died from the spell.

I nearly fell to the ground.

That was most of my power.

If I try something like that again, I could die horribly.

I felt an armoured hand grab my arm and pull me towards the entrance.

It was Velvet who was pulling me.

"Come on, we'll escape them if we just leave, they might not follow us!" Shouted Yang.

Idiot.

I smirked at her stupidity.

I'm lucky to have such a friend.

I really hope she's right.

Even if such a thing probably wouldn't happen.

It was nice to have hope, no matter how dumb it might be.

"She's going unconscious!" Shouted a voice, I could only guess that it was Velvet.

"Carry her, we won't leave her behind!" Shouted another voice.

I feel happy.

I guess that happens when you aren't awake


	5. Chapter 5: Side Jaune

Chapter 5

Siege

Scarlet and I were walking along the wall, as usual.

"Were you at the tavern last night?" Asked Scarlet.

"Nope, Sergeant had me do graveyard shift."

"That sucks."

"I think it sucks more for the guy I had to take the shift from." I said.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"The poor bloke fell off the wall, on the outside part." I told him.

"Is he okay?" Scarlet asked.

"He was found in the morning, missing three limbs along with his throat." Scarlet looked at me in horror.

"Holy crap, that's a horrible way to die."

"No kidding, so what about the tavern?" I said to change the subject.  
"There was this Vacuo woman in a green dress, she was cleaning house while playing cards with all the other patrons at the place."

This was interesting.

"So much so that several poor blokes that were as terrible with cards as they were with money accused her of cheating, then she went around the place happy-go-lucky by dancing and singing on top of the tables, it was fantastical!"

I wonder what kind of dance she did, if Scarlet liked it, maybe better not to ask that question.

"Was that it?" I asked disappointingly.

"Oh, and there was something about a caravan going missing in the forest." He said casually.

"What." I said in a flat tone.

"A caravan went missing in the forest." Scarlet repeated for me.

"You're serious?" I asked.

"No joke, I think the monsters are getting more violent."

"That, I agree with." I replied.

"Yea-"

"There's something coming out of the forest!"

Every single guard on top of the wall including us immediately went to look at the forest.

As we all went to the edge of the wall, what we saw filled our hearts with unspeakable dread.

There were over a few dozen dark figures coming out of the forest.

They were running towards the wall at the speed of rabid wolves.

I can say with certainty that every guard including me were seriously considering just outright running and going to rethink their lives several times over while crapping and pissing themselves.

But we just stood there and watched, stunned by what we were seeing.

"Get ready men!" It was our Sergeant's words that suddenly caused every guard to get ready for the attack.

Men were getting to the walls with pikes, axes, and swords.

Others were getting crossbows and the few ballistae we had were armed and loaded to fire.

We waited for our Sergeant's signal to fire.

We waited for a minute; they were closer, close enough that we could hear their screeches load and clear.

We still waited.

They were close enough that we could see their vile rotten and cursed features, wearing old pieces of armour and cloth.

A few were even holding hammers or axes.

What were these things?

"FIRE!" Our Sergeant shouted these words at the top of his lungs.

And with that, over a dozen bolts hit their targets dealing a few casualties to the horde, along with a couple large ballista bolts dealing much several more casualties to the horde.

We at the very least killed two dozen or so of the creatures, but there were still at least four dozen of them left.

This was going to be tough.

"Get your weapons ready!" Shouted the Sergeant.

All the men got their weapons ready to strike down any creature that managed to get up onto the walls.

Which is exactly what started happening.

At first, only one or two of them got up.

They were relatively easy to dispatch.

But then we heard a loud screech from below.

And suddenly there was over a dozen more on the wall.

It was horrible.

Every now and then an unlucky guard would be pulled off the wall and to their death.

If the fall didn't kill the poor sods, those damn things did.

The sods that survived the fall were ripped apart; we heard their crying and screaming, until it suddenly stopped with a loud gurgling sound replacing it.

I went and slashed at a rotten black hand that had tried to climb up, cutting it off and leaving a bloody stump.

The owner of the hand screeched as it fell down to the ground.

"There's too many of them!" Shouted a guard, obviously scared for his life.

"Don't stop fighting!" Shouted another.

I ran to help another guard; he was having trouble with a monster that had an axe in its hand.

I struck the monster's back.

It fell to the ground screeching its lungs out.

The guard I helped put his pike through its head, putting it out of its mercy.

"Let's keep going." He said.

"Agreed." We both ran to help the others out.

"Help!" Someone shouted.

I turned to see who shouted, and to my horror, it was Scarlet.

He was being pulled on by one of the creatures; he was trying to get it off of him.

"JAUNE, HELP ME, HELP ME!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming, just wait till I get there!" I shouted.

I ran to my friend.

I ran as fast as I could.

If I ran any faster, I would be as fast as a horse on mushrooms and adrenaline.

But even then I wouldn't have been fast enough to stop it.

"Agggghhh!" The creature had put its claws into his chest.

I reached him and put my blade through the creature's horrible looking head.

But it was too late.

Oh, I was too late to save him.

He smiled at me.

He fell off the wall.

"Scarlet." I said as I tried to grab him.

But it was useless.

I couldn't save him.

He hit the ground at the bottom of the wall.

Scarlet was dead.

My best friend is dead.

Oh, goddess.

"Watch out, behind you!" Shouted the Sergeant to me.

I turned.

Only to be nearly thrown off by another creature attacking me.

So this is how I die.

I thought I would die in my sleep.

I thought I would live long enough to have a wife and kids.

That I would live a perfectly peaceful life in a nice grassland on a farm that will be doing well with its crops.

That I would live to a ripe old age and die in my comfortable sleep.

That I would have all my friends like Scarlet to visit me and bring me news of what was going on in the outside world that I would have left behind.

But no.

It seems like I'm finally dying here, on top of this Goddess-forsaken wall in the Capital in the stupid Kingdom Of Vale that I call my home.

Well.

Looks like it's time to say goodbye and hello then.

Goodbye Sergeant.

Goodbye Scarlet.

Goodbye, my King.

Goodbye nature.

Goodbye, good food.

Goodbye, everyone else that I probably wouldn't care about that much, to be honest.

Goodbye world that never really cared about my sorry arse.

Hello Goddess.

The beautiful Goddess that will save me from the eternal damnation that may plague my soul in my passing.

The one which will keep me from facing the fiery Tartarus that awaits most in life after they die a horrible and likely deserved death at the hands of a monster.

Hello, angels that will carry me to salvation and away from Tartarus.

Wait a minute.

There's a burning sensation in my left shoulder right now.

Why do I feel a burning sensation in my left shoulder?

I shouldn't be feeling pain!

.  
Am I really dead?


	6. Chapter 6: Side Ozpin

Chapter 6

Aftermath

This was not a good day.

There was a massive incident this morning.

The monsters that had been attacking merchants and travelers in the forest finally had the balls to attack the Capital head on.

They failed in the end, all of them dead and chopped into pieces by the city guard's weapons.

Unfortunately, several guards were lost in the battle.

Nine out of the fifty guards died rather horribly at the hands of the monsters, while around twelve others were injured.

This led to only twenty-nine guards ready to defend in case this happened again.

Their deaths and injuries were due to either being stabbed by the creatures that carried weapons or being dragged off the wall and being torn apart gruesomely.

Poor fellows, they probably never expected they would die like that, heck, they probably never expected they would die in the first place.

Anyway.

I sent Watts to look at the bodies of these monsters.

I'm waiting in the situation room until he finishes doing so.

It is rather boring if I do say so myself.

Nothing happens for around one hour.

That is, until the door is pushed open.

Watts had finished his autopsy of the creature's bodies.

"So?" I asked.

"Their Dwarves." I look at him with confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that these creatures were originally Dwarves." Watts replied.

"How is that possible?"

"They most likely opened up a dungeon, Sire."

Ah.

A dungeon.

One of the most dangerous things to dig up from below the ground.

I set a ruling that they should immediately tell me if they found such a thing.

The Dwarves obviously disobeyed that ruling.

The greedy idiots.

They probably wanted to try to see if they could obtain a large amount of treasure from it to boost their own wealth considerably.

Instead, they got their entire village cursed and turned into monsters.

Just great.

Oh Goddess, I forgot!

I sent Weiss and her companions there!

I just sent them to their deaths without intending to.

"That's not good."

"Our last population count for the village was two thousand, Sire."

Definitely not good at all.

If a hundred could cut down the number of guards ready for combat nearly in half, then what about the rest of them?

We needed help in this situation.

We could get the Empire of Mistral to help us in killing these things.

Anything that was not human was to be killed or enslaved in their eyes.

So there is no doubt, they would jump at the chance to kill a bunch of monsters.

No matter the cost, they would.

Would the Land Of Atlas help?

No.

That is a bad idea and you know it, Ozpin!

They would never honour the deal for a second!

They would use it as a ploy to attack you and weaken your forces, wildling down your remaining defenses until you are open for conquering.

They would murder thousands the moment you sign a deal with them.

Heck, they would murder thousands the moment you entered the negotiation room.

They were never to be trusted.

The Empire of Mistral it is then.

"I think our only way to get help is to strike a deal with The Emperor." I told Watts.

"Is that wise?" He asked.

"We can't ask The Land Of Atlas to help us." I replied.

"Good point, they would betray us immediately." Watts said.

"The Empire of Mistal would be fine with helping us; they still don't know that we were the ones that sent the assassins."

"Yes, that is true." Watts said.

"So it's decided, we will get the Empire to help us with our monster problem." I said proudly.

"How will we tempt them?"

"We shall promise to provide much-needed supplies to them during their war with The Land Of Atlas." I said.

"What type of supplies?" Watts pondered aloud to me.

"Weapons and magic-resistant armour." I replied.

"How much would we be able to provide?"

"Enough." I stated to Watts.

"Yes, Sire." He replied.

"Now leave me, Watts." I ordered.

"Yes, Sire." He bowed to me.

"And Watts."

"Yes?" He said.

"Can you ask Glynda to talk to me please?"

"I will." Watts said.

He then left the room to get Glynda.

I sigh.

It is so difficult to run a kingdom.

If only it was simpler.

But it is never simple.

The day it becomes simple is the day that I grow Faunus wolf ears.

It would be so much simpler to be a wolf.

You would only have to worry about hunting for food and looking after your family.

Now that I think of it.

Hunting wouldn't be a bad idea at the moment.

Allows me to clear my head, while also having the chance to kill some monsters.

That would be nice.

I think I'll do it tomorrow.

It wouldn't be difficult.

After all, who would disobey a King?

...

Quite a few people now that I think about it.

Assassins, rivals, monsters, other Kings.

Wait a minute, I'm talking to myself again.

I need to s-

This has happened before, hasn't it?

Yes, it has.

I need to focus!

Where is Glynda!

There was a knock from the door.

"Come in." I said, gaining back my composure.

"It is I, My King!" It was Glynda, thankfully.

"Ah, Glynda!"

"Yes My King!" She said with a dignified voice.

"I want you to try and get more recruits for the guards."

"Are we really that low My King?" She asked.

"Only half our men are combat ready, a fifth died in the attack."

"I will see to it that we shall gain more men to defend you, My King!" She replied.

She began to take his leave.

As soon as the door closed behind him, I sighed.

I really want to be like her.

If we swapped places, The Kingdom would be much better off.

She could get anyone to do what he wants them to do using just her voice alone.

She could slay any traitors and enemies that try their hand at the Kingdom.

She could muster a thousand men with mere words from her lips.

She could win any battle through sheer force of will and belief in her goals.

She could conquer the whole continent of Abutor within a matter of a few years.

She could court any man or woman and they would accept her immediately.

Wait.

I think I just want to stop being King after all these years.

I want to live a peaceful life in the countryside.

I want to be free of being King.

I think I'm just looking at Glynda as a successor.

But that can never happen.

My Daughter Cinder is first in line for the throne.

Her sister is second.

Both would have to die for Glynda to become Queen.

Oh well, it was just a daydream anyway.

It's not like it would ever happen.

I just have to deal with being King till I die.

Only then can I have peace.

But would it be a good idea?

Would Cinder make a good Ruler?

Would anyone make a good Ruler in this day and age?

Only time will tell, as I won't live to see it.


	7. Chapter 7: Side Weiss

Chapter 7

Loneliness

I wake to see plain-looking grass.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I m not dead yet.

"Ah, you're awake." I turned to see Velvet sitting next to a fire.

+She was cooking some meat over the fire with some sticks to keep the meat from falling in.

Yang was on the other side of the fire, ravenously biting into some meat that had already been cooked.

"How long have I been out?" I ask the two.

"Just one day, White." Replied Yang nonchalantly.

"A whole day!?" I shouted back at them in bewilderment.

That is definitely a problem; I have never been knocked unconscious for that long.

How much mana did I use?

"What happened while I was unconscious?"

"Oh, Vel here carried you while we ran from the Dwarf village." Yang explained.

"We found a few small farms that had been ravaged by the bastards." Said Velvet right after.

"The scenes were bloody awful."

Maybe it was a good thing I was knocked out then.

I didn't have to witness all the horrible and gruesome things that happened to the farmers that we passed.

"We should get going." I said.

"Yeah, wouldn't wanna keep The King waiting." Said Yang.

"Agreed." Replied Velvet.

"Those things lost track of us, but there are bound to be some looking around for new targets." Said Yang, showing that she wasn't a complete moron.

"Makes sense."

We started packed up the stuff in our camp, leaving the non-cooked meat to throw those monstrosities off our trail.

And so we set off!

We began walking towards the direction of the Capital.

We stayed off the road to avoid unwanted attention.

What attention, you may ask?

Bandits of course!

Bandits are the one thing that you generally will encounter at least once when you do a lot of traveling around the continent of Remnant.

The common bandit will try to set up a trap or ambushes for any targets, said targets were usually lone wanderers that would not be able to deal with half a dozen men at once.

At least, usually that was the case.

Some wanderers were forces to be reckoned with.

There were tales of lone wanderers killing whole groups of bandits and monsters numbering in the dozens.

Most weren't true.

Emphasis on most.

There were genuine wanderers that I have seen in action.

They either were extremely skilled with a blade or bow or some other weapon.

Or they were very talented wizards and witches.

All in all, they were nice people.

But a few were giant donkeys!

They expected to be showered in gold by people who weren't even there!

They thought about themselves above most.

The pricks even thought they could get anything from other travelers because they were 'heroes'.

Those kinds of people deserve to be shoved up a horse's bottom!

"I see a building."

I looked in the direction of the building Yang said she saw.

It was It was a ..

It looked like an old church.

Oh Goddess!

A church of the old God!

I thought most of these were destroyed!

This one must have been missed during the process.

Well.

It was the only place for miles that wasn't flattened.

If anything, it looked quite well kept for a building that should be around sixty years old about now.

Maybe it's just lucky.

"I think we should enter it for the night." I said.

"WHAT!?" Shouted Yang, unexpectedly.

"That's a church to the old god!"

"Yes, what of it?"

"If you think I would enter that place then you are a complete utter idiot!"

"I never expected you for the religious type, Yang." I said, still bewildered at her reaction.

"Well, I am!"

Well, this is a problem.

"And I m not entering that cursed place, you can't make me!"

I smiled.

Velvet looked at me and started to smile too.

Velvet had a smile that could turn from very pleasant to creepy based on her intent.

Right now it was creepy.

Really, really creepy!

"What are you two planning?" Yang asked, clearly feeling nervous.

"Well, Yang!" I started.

"It looks like we might have to leave you out here!"

"What?!"

"All alone in the cold!" I bellowed.

"No food and no blanket!" Velvet added on.

"All the while monsters are roaming the place." I said to bring up the tension.

"Stop it!" Shouted Yang, clearly breaking.

"And all the while his friends were all cosy with warm blankets and food!" Velvet was having too much fun with this.

"No!"

Both Velvet and I started to walk away from Yang, and to the church.

"Hey!"

We kept walking.

"Guys!"

We heard her start to run up to us as we walked.

"Wait for me!"

She ran until she was right next to us.

"Well, that wasn't hard." Said Velvet, a happy smile on her face.

"Arseholes."

"What was that?" I said.

Velvet and I increased our walking speed.

"Wait!"

Yang grabbed Velvet's shoulder to catch up to us.

We entered the church.

It had coloured glass paintings.

How interesting, and expensive.

Most were showing a figure of a man in a white robe with a beard and long hair.

He was shown holding out bread and fish to starving people.

Along with that, he was also shown walking on water.

It was interesting, as, despite me being a water wizard, I know for a fact that there is no spell that can allow one to do that.

The guy certainly seemed to be nice.

I wonder why people abandoned him and followed the Great Goddess instead?

Holy war?

Maybe, but there are no records about such an event.

I was thinking about what could have caused this place to be forgotten when I noticed a figure in the middle of the building.

"Welcome to the holy church!" The figure, a man, shouted at us.

"Have you come to pray?" He asked.

"We were just looking for a place to stay for the night." I said quickly.

The man was wearing clothes that were similar to that of a priestess, but he had a scythe in his hand.

"Why do you look like a priestess?" Asked Yang.

"I am a priest, young lady."

"Is that like a male version of a priestess then?"

"Correct, young lady, though I don't have the ability to heal others."

"That sucks." Stated Yang rather bluntly.

"Yes it does, it's the reason why people started to follow the Goddess instead."

"Just because they could heal wounds, everyone abandoned your religion?" I asked.

"Yes, you would be surprised how easy it is to make people change their beliefs; a man could have followed one for years, but change at a drop of a cloak."

"That's sad." Said Velvet, her ears folded onto her head.

"Yes, it is."

A religion that s been around for years suddenly loses all its followers in less than a decade, along with most of its existence being destroyed as well.

Yeah, it kind of is sad when you put it like that.

They probably weren't that bad.

They don t seem like the type to sacrifice criminals their holy figure.

"Who are you?" Yang asked, which was a good question.

"Oh, I am just like you fellows, just a lonely wanderer trying to find my way in the world."


	8. Chapter 8: Side Jaune

Chapter 8

Pain

Scarlet was dead.

My one close friend in this hellhole of a city is dead.

I feel sad.

Maybe that's why I m currently trying to drink myself to death.

In the tavern at midnight, when only a couple of people went to drink.

I'm trying my best to dull the pain.

The pain that will never go away.

I hope it goes away.

Please go away.

"Jaune?"

I turned my head to look at who had spoken my name.

"Sergeant?"

He looked at me and then looked at the mug of drink in my hand.

"My Goddess man, what have you been doing to yourself!?" He said, clearly not happy that I wasted all my money on drink.  
"I'm just doing some *burp* drinking sir.

"Well, you are an absolute idiot if you think this will help you get over Scarlet dying."

"What did you say?!" I shouted at him with utter anger.

He was wrong.

He was so wrong.

He was supposed to be wrong.

But he wasn't.

He wasn't wrong at all.

Goddess dammit he wasn't wrong!

Why wasn't he wrong!

Rahhh!

"Go away!" I shouted.

"No." He said simply.

I got up from my seat.

"I said GO AWAY!" I charged at him.

I was gonna give what he deserved!

When I was about to reach him, he simply sighed.

"Hmmm?"

Why did he sigh?

I very quickly found the answer.

He very simply moved to the right when I was about to hit him.

I missed and fell onto my arse.

That sucked.

"You see, you're just damming yourself by drinking so much." He said.

"Go shut yourself." I responded.

"Ah, there's the Jaune I know."

"I mean it."

"Listen, you need to get over it, no amount of drinking yourself silly will not have him magically walk through that door."

I look at him for a moment

"Alright." I sigh.

I try to get up.

"Oommff"

Turns out that it is quite hard to get up when you are drunk.

Who Knew?

"Here, let me help you."

The Sergeant grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

"Thanks." I said pathetically.

"No problem, Jaune." He responded.

"Hey, I have a question."

"Ask away."

"What's your actual name?"

"It's..."

The Sergeant paused, as if this was a question he didn't want to answer, probably didn't wanna get too attached.

"It's Qrow."

"You aren't from Vale?"

"From the wasteland of Vacuo."

That certainly is a unique heritage to have.

Most non-Valourians would have backgrounds from The Land Of Atlas or The Empire of Mistral, both usually portrayed as blonde or silver haired and blue eyed for the former and brown haired and hazel eyed for the latter.

But the wasteland?

If Qrow was telling the truth, then he sure as Tartarus did not at all look the part.

In fact, he looked more like an Imperial than a Wastelander.

Wastelanders were generally well known for looking very out of place even in the company of Atlasians, as most Wastelanders usually had long, reddish or golden metal looking hair, along with green eyes.

However, Qrow did not look like he had green eyes at all.

His eyes were dark, almost hazel.

"You look like an Imperial, Qorw."

"My eyes are green it's just that they lost their colour after so many years living in Vale." He said.

"And your hair?" I ask.

"I cut it to look less like a savage."

However, that doesn't explain-

"My father was one of my mother's slaves."

Oh my Goddess, that is horrible to think about.

"I regret asking at all now."

"I expected you to say that." He said.

"Why wouldn't I say it, your life sounds..."

I could not for the life of me think of what to say.

"Unpleasant?"

"Yes." I replied.

"It was." Qrow said.

"What happened?" I said before I could stop myself.

I am such an idiot.

"My mother killed my father in a sacrificial ritual by havign his eyes and heart removed from his body."

I could tell that he was going to carry on.

"My mother's fellow tribesmen found out about her affair with my father, and the tribal custom to remove those who have done horrid wrongs, she was taken to be sacrificed too, though her intestines were removed instead."

Too.

Much.

Detail.

Way too much.

Too much to warrant thinking about.

"Can we stop having this conversation?" I ask.

"Sure, my story was even less pleasant anyways."

Oh Goddess.

"So, anything interesting happening lately?"

"Not much." He replies.

"So, what happened?"

"There is a rumour that the King is going hunting tomorrow." He said.

"Really?" I asked, stunned that the King would do such a thing.

"By himself as well." Qrow explained.

"You're pulling my leg."

"I'm not joking at all Jaune."

"No, I mean you're actually pulling my leg right now."

Rii finally realized that he indeed was pulling me by my leg across the ground.

"Sorry about that!" Qrow said, sounding apologetic.

"I didn't notice!" He explained.

Really.

You have to be joking!

You seriously didn't notice that you were dragging me by my leg for over a minute!

You can't be that absent-minded, can you, because if you were any more absent-minded you would be unable to notice the Sun rising at the moment!

Wait, the Sun rising?

Is it morning already?

How long was I drinking?

More importantly, how long were we talking?

We couldn't have talked for the night!?

Did we?

It is either that or I may have had WAY more drinks then I thought possible to shove down my gullet in a night.

"I think I wasted my entire pay on drinks tonight." I said, noticing that any slur I had in my speech had disappeared, meaning that I was sobering up a bit.

Qrow suddenly stopped and checked my brown-coloured pouch at my waist for my money.

He then looked up at me.

"Nope, still got twelve coins on you." He said.

I only spent four coins?

That means I only spent enough money for six drinks!

I could have bought six more easily!

But actually, that's a really stupid idea, especially now.

Why is that?

I remember now!

Ah crap!

"I have to get ready for work today!"

"Don't worry about getting ready for work today."

What the heck?

"Why is that, Qrow?" I ask, wanting the answer.

"You're way too drunk for active duty today."

That's great!

Wait, that I means I hav-

"So you have night duty instead, because that's exactly when you'll be completely sobered up and ready for work."

Oh goddess in the heavens, damn night duty.

"Permission to speak, Sir." I ask.

"Go ahead." Rii replied.

"I hate you, Sir."

"I know that Jaune, I know that very well."


	9. Chapter 9: Side Ozpin

Chapter 9

Hunting

It was nice to go hunting again.

No need to worry whether the men you sent out are dead or not.

No need to deal with political subterfuge from rival nations masquerading as friendly nations.

And no need for constantly coughing so much due to the unexpectedly large amount of dust from the walls of the castle.

Just some nice, calm, violent hunting of a buck.

Said buck was currently drinking from a pond, completely oblivious to the fact that I was watching it.

Then again, I am hiding in a bush along with wearing green clothing that fits with the leaves.

So I do believe that I have quite the advantage.

It drank from the pond more, filling its belly with water.

I lift my bow, which is made out of Red Oak wood, along with the string made of linen.

I pull out an arrow from my quiver, which unlike other quivers, was hung from my belt for easier access when not standing.

I put my arrow to my bow.

I pull back the string.

The buck suddenly looks up.

Its head turns to where I am hiding.

It seems to be sniffing the air.

I realize the wind is coming from my direction.

It can smell me!

It turns and breaks off into a run.

I fire my arrow.

It narrowly misses my target.

"Dammit!"

I sprint after.

I am not failing here!

I will get you!

You will be my dinner tonight!

It ran past several trees.

Jumping around and past some of them, as if to try to cause me to not be able to follow.

Too bad, buck, I can follow!

I am still on your tail!

I chase after the buck.

I see a broken branch.

I jump over it quickly in pursuit of my target.

I dodge out of the way of a tree.

Strange, it appeared to have been cut a bit.

As if ..

I stop.

I notice a string in front of me.

Made of silk to appear almost invisible.

Right next to it were pieces of grass, which were poorly trying to hide spikes that would hit the poor soul that runs into the string.

Oh my.

Someone is trying to kill me.

That s new.

I duck.

An arrow hits the tree next to me.

I run.

Another arrow whizzes past, hitting the ground near me.

I jump to the nearest tree.

I hide behind it.

I wait.

It seems that the assassin is trying to find me.

It's time to use some tactics.

"You're not a bad shot, all things considering!" I shout to the assassin, waiting for a response.

For several moments there seems to be no reply.

Then, as if magic.

"Thank you for your niceties, King Ozpin, but I am sorry to say that it won't stop me from killing you!" This assassin was determined to end my life.

Well, assassin.

What makes you think I would not go down without a fight?

"You should aim higher, less likely to hit the ground!" I shout to the assassin.

"Thank you for the advice!" He shouts back.

"You would have made a better assassin than the men I sent to kill the Emperor!" I feel like saying that was a bad idea.

Few knew the truth about the assassination.

This man didn't need to know such a thing.

"You tried to have the Emperor assassinated?!"

"Emphasis on tried, good sir!" I shouted back.

"I heard that the current ruler in The Empire is the Emperor s wife, the Empress!" That is an interesting thought.

There is a chance that the actual Emperor is dead and the Empress is ruling in his place and saying that the man killed was just a fake.

It would explain many things, actually.

Like why the Emperor refuses to see me in person.

Why the Emperor refuses to show themselves to their people.

They're dead.

And someone else is in control.

This day is just getting more and more interesting.

I jump from the tree I used for cover to another not far away.

It is in that moment I hear another arrow whizz past my head.

This man is getting better.

"Hey, you nearly hit me that time!" Expressing how impressed I was.

"Thank you!" Another shot grazed the tree I was behind.

Bugger, the arrow nearly hit my shoulder in the process.

This man would have made an excellent hunting partner.

If he wasn't trying to kill me at the moment, of course.

How to deal with this I have an idea.

I pick up a rock nearby me off the ground.

I aim at a fallen tree nearby.

I throw it with as much grace as I can.

An arrow flies at the rock, hitting it with ease.

At that exact moment, I jump out and aim.

I let of the string holding back the arrow into the direction the assassin most likely fired from.

"Oh, bugger." The man was hit in the chest.

He fell down to the grassy ground, dead.

I walk over to the man's corpse.

Poor bastard.

Probably didn't t think he would be killed by the distraction trick.

I look to see any markings, in order to find if this man was part of any group I might know.

As I look closer though, it is very obvious that this isn't a man.

The two big bumps on the assassin s chest are what give it away.

I find this quite surprising, as the assassin did not sound like a woman when they spoke.

Their voice had been very deep.

Almost demonic in tone.

There was definitely some magic used in this situation.

This makes me think about how my brother was killed.

In fact, this was startlingly close to how he was killed.

He had been out hunting and was killed by an animal.

However, pretty much everyone knew that was not the case when they saw his body desecrated at his own funeral by his own mother.

This assassination failed due to the fact that I am not a stranger in any way, shape or form in this world that we live in, to backstabbing others for political gain.

Nevertheless, what would the person who sent this assassin gain from having me killed?

My son Princess Cinder would just take my plac-

Princess Cinder.

My daughter would have the benefit of being the ruler of the whole Kingdom if she had me killed in an accident in the forest.

My daughter is most likely killing all those loyal to me right now.

She probably thinks me dead and is grabbing all the power she can.

I must get back to the Capital.

I need to defend my rule from one who wishes to take it by force from me.

I start walking in the direction of the Capital.

That little bitch will not get my throne!

She will suffer for her attempts at removing me!

She will die a horrible and slow death.

Said death I will make sure to take weeks before she is finally allowed to die.

She will not die with dignity.

She will not die with Valour.

She will die with cowardice.

I have made it back to my horse, which is bright white if a black mane.

She will pay.

I will humiliate him more by making his sister, Princess Bethany my successor.

She would scream in anguish at that.

She will wish she never tried.

There will be no feast of food tonight.

There will only be a feast of blood on those that die to metal.


	10. Chapter 10: Side Watts

Chapter 10

Checkmate

The Princess was not one to trifle with.

This was true.

However, having a friendly chat was not out of the realm of possibility.

I know this because I m having such a conversation with him now.

"You think you could catch me off with a knight, Cinder?" I laugh aloud.

"My knight isn't what you should be looking at, Watts." Replied The Princess.

It is only then that I realised that her bishop had taken out my rook.

"Rats."

"Indeed, royal wizard."

It felt nice to be called that, finally, some recognition.

"Speaking of rats, I would love it if the King would finally allow me to go and exterminate all the rat faunus in the city already." I said with annoyance.

"Any particular reason why you want to kill them?" I did not answer.

Brata pressed on to find the answer he wanted.

"Did they harm you or someone you cared about?" I let out a breath of air.

"Nah, I just hate the sight of them!" I said with glee.

Can't wait to set them all on fire.

It would look beautiful at night.

Oh, the dreams I have!

"What about killing all the faunus?" I nearly spilt the drink I hand in my hand.

Kill all of them?

But the cat faunus made such good maids, especially the cute ones.

"I don't think ALL of the demi-humans, some of the bastards are quite useful in some cases." I replied.

"Oh, so it isn't just because you like having your way with the cat demi-human maids?" Dammit, Cinder knew exactly what I was thinking.

She was right, the cat faunus were always a good shag, but I couldn't have my way with more than one of them.

Polygamy was banned in The Kingdom Of Vale.

I really wish it wasn't.

"Your Knight has fallen." She said as he took away my knight which she took with his bishop.

Cinder is one of the few people to have beaten me at chess.

The only others being; Cinder's sister Ruby, My master, and the King himself.

Being good at strategy seems to be in the family, it seems.

"You lost your other knight." Cinder said with glee.

Even then, none of the others have ever beaten him this fast.

"You are improving, Cinder, you might be better than your father someday." I said with casualty.

"What about today?" Cinder asked.

"Maybe, maybe." I said with a little smile.

Always impatient, aren't they?

"You think the hunter is taking too long in catching the prey?" She asked, for once genuinely showing frustration.

"Something such as hunting prey takes time, Princess Cinder, no need to get frustrated." I said, trying to calm her down.

It seems to have worked.

She seemingly relaxes his shoulders.

Cinder sighs heavily.

"It's just that I'm tired of waiting, at this rate, my sister might get powerful enough to be picked for the throne when father dies." Cinder said solemnly.

It's sad when you think about it.

Cidner has lived her whole life in The Kingdom Of Vale.

Her sister, due to being only one year older, has more of a claim to the throne then she does.

She has been trained to become Ruler.

However, her sister will most likely take her place on the throne.

It would sound like the line of succession was rigged from the start.

I get back to the game.

I have been sub-consciously playing with Prince Cinder.

Yeah, doing things like that is possible when you 'e one of the best wizards in the kingdom.

Such a task at first required intense concentration.

But now a days it was as simple as pouring a cup of mead into a mug.

I was going to be made part of the council that governs The Land Of Magic for being able to do so.

But they wouldn't let me!

So what if I killed half a dozen other wizards in their sleep?

Along with their families, including the children.

Not to mention their slaves.

No reason to kick me out of the Land!

Dammit. Cinder has taken half of all my pieces, mostly my pawns.

I've only taken around a quarter of her.

This is embarrassing.

So, so embarrassing.

This is worse than the time I lost a bet to a wolf faunus at the tavern.

I couldn't walk for a whole day after that.

However, not for the reason you're thinking.

The bitch literally bit my legs into little pieces.

It took extensive bribing of the priestesses to fix my legs.

Even then, I still feel pain in my legs at night.

Oooh, it hurt so much.

"Check." Said Cinder.

She got me in a check!

I move my king out of the way.

"Check." Cinder said again.

Her rook has me!

I move my king to hide it.

Right behind my bishops.

This will save me!

"It won't save you, Watts."

"Why is that, dear Princess Cinder?"

Princess Cinder pointed down to the chessboard.

She had a very smug look on his face.

I looked down in horror as I saw why.

Her bishop was in place to check my king.

I quickly moved a pawn to block it.

"Nice try." Cinder moved a rook The rook took my pawn.

"Check." Dammit!

I moved a bishop.

I used to it take out the rook.

I have you now! I saw the look on her face at that moment.

It was a very disturbing smile.

It was such a smile that would make most people want to leave this woman's presence.

"Check, Watts." Cinder chuckled.

Dammit.

Dammit, dammit.

DAMMIT!

Dammit all to Tartarus!

In my time playing chess with those of The Royal Family Of Vale.

None, and I mean NONE, have made me this angry at the thought of losing to them!

Dammit!

She has my king cornered.

Calm down, Watts.

She's being smug on purpose.

The more you give in.

The more you will make bad decisions.

That's it.

Calm down.

It is all a trick.

"Checkmate." She got me with a knight.

She beat me.

She beat me!

Dammit!

"Good match, Princess Cinder." I tried not to growl.

I was desperately trying to not look angry.

A bad idea in front of the prince.

You don't have to try to look happy Watts; I know you're angry at me for looking so smug."

"Thank you Princess Cinder."

I will now try to resist strangling you instead.

"No need to think of strangling me, Watts." How does she always know what I'm thinking?!

It makes no sense!

Thank the Goddess I'm siding with her and not the King.

Otherwise I could have made a very terrible mistake.

A mistake that would have ended with my death.

I made a good choice in helping her kill the King.

"Well, now that the game is over, let us start the feast."

Yes, the feast of blood.


	11. Chapter 11: Side Jaune

Chapter 11

Runaway

"This doesn't feel right." Said Qrow.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, randomly told to escort Princess Ruby for no apparent reason other than we were ordered to definitely seems suspicious."

"It's just, so out of the ordinary for this to happen."

"I know, wouldn't they have the royal guard do this?" I asked.

"Supposedly."

"So why us?"

"That is a question that I am not sure we will get the answer to." Qrow replied.

"Why is that?" I ask.

"Because the person we're supposed to escort has just arrived." The princess saw us and walked towards us.

She was actually quite beautiful.

I have never seen her before.

However, most people have never seen her before, as she was known to be quite shy.

We kneeled before the princess, as was custom to do so when in presence of royalty.

"Are you my guards?" She asked.

"Yes, Princess." Replied Qrow.

"I hoped for a better pair of guards, but you will be fine." This caused me to be a bit peeved.

You wanted better?!

Well we are the best you're going to get!

"We are all that could be easily spared on short notice." Qrow said.

She suddenly looked at us with understanding.

"I heard about the siege, was it really that bad?" Asked Princess Ruby.

"Around half the men were injured or killed." Replied Qrow.

"Oh, that is saddening." Said the Princess.

"Shall move past this with some walking, perhaps?" I said.

"Yes, we should, thank you for the idea, Jaune."

How in Tartarus did she know my name when neither I nor Qrow said it?

We went onto our walk around the castle.

This was mainly to look for things to do.

As none of us knew that we were supposed to do after we met up in the hallway.

Well, time to look at the paintings.

We gave up on that idea when we saw how hideous some of the paintings looked.

Seriously!

One looked like a picture of a corpse!

Most likely because it was a corpse!

At least, that was what the Princess said about it.

Despite being a princess, she acted much more intelligent than one would expect her to act.

She didn't just dally around while we followed; she showed that she knew the castle better than everyone in the guard did.

No, really!

She surprised us with several shortcuts and secret doors that neither Qrow nor I had even heard about!

This escort mission was more educational than training in the ways of a scholar as well.

She knew more about the political talks happening in the land than we could ever imagine.

The Mistral Empire was making an alliance with The Kingdom of Vale to kill off the monsters in exchange for giving them magical weapons and armour.

Thank The Goddess for that!

I really hated those things!

I would love to help in killing them!

Oh life is getting better!

But then she told us the bad news.

"We have to be careful with the alliance."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"My father tried to have their Emperor assassinated a week ago."

"That is definitely something that could hurt relations." Said Qrow.

"Yes, which is why we are currently trying to hide that little fact from The Empire."

"Don't want to lose a powerful ally in case a war starts." I added to the conversation.

"We had the choice of allying ourselves with The Land Of Atlas or The Mistral Empire, The Empire was considered the better decision."

"Yeah, those magic bastards would have backstabbed us the moment we turned around from them." Said Qrow.

"Yes, that is true." Said Princess Ruby.

Something crossed my mind.

"Wait." They stopped to listen to me.

"Why do we have to choose, is a war happening soon?" I asked the question that poked the elephant that was being avoided.

Qrow wanted to know as well judging by the look on his face.

"A war is breaking out between the Empire and The Land Of Atlas."

"What started it?"

"The Empire is blaming The Atlasians for the assassination attempt." Said the Princess quite sheepishly.

"What!?" Said both Qrow and I in unison.

"We're playing along to avoid a war with them. It's the only way; we are in no shape to fight a war at the moment." Said The Princess.

"This feels like it's just going to end very poorly for all parties involved." I said.

"I know what you mean." Replied Qrow.

Today is just making my head hurt.

I just can t deal with this stuff.

And that is when they attacked us.

I ducked out of the way of the attack.

Qrow grabbed the Princess and pulled her down to the ground.

The blades from the lances missed all three of us.

Qrow pulled out his sword and amazingly sliced off the head of one of the assailants.

I don't waste time and simply punch the other assailant with my armoured glove in a quick upper-cut.

Qrow moved to my side and put his sword through the bastard's throat.

The man fell to the floor, gurgling on his own blood.

Qrow put the blade through the man's eye to end his suffering.

"Who in Tartarus are these guys?!" Shouted Qrow.

"Let's find out, shall we?" Said the Princess.

She went over and checked the bodies.

I was a bit disturbed at how she showed no disgust or horror at the sight of dead bodies.

Even I feel the need to throw up when I stare at a corpse for longer than a few seconds.

She messily checked the bodies, getting a bit of blood on her hands.

You would not expect of a member of the royal family to mess around with dead people's bodies like it was no big deal.

This led me to think of the disturbing implication that the Princess has had experience messing around with dead people before.

I did not like that implication.

Not one bit.

The Princess finished checking the body and stood up.

She looked at us with dull eyes that made us uncomfortable.

"These men are part of the guard." She said simply.

"What?" I said simply back.

"How can you tell?" Qrow asked.

"They have the guard earrings on their ears." She said.

"Why would they try to kill us?" I asked.  
"Most likely reason is that either they were hired to kill us."

"Or?" Asked Rii, wanting the second answer.

"Someone, likely my sister, is trying to eliminate all rivals to the throne."

"Oh."

Oh my.

That is not good at all.

"We must leave the city then." Said Qrow.

"How do we do that?" I ask.

"It's not as if we will be able to leave through the gate if there is a usurp going on." They take in what I said.

"You're right, we will have to use whatever shortcuts and secret ways we can to get out." Said Princess Ruby.

We began to leave.

We were able to make it quite far before we encountered another pair of guards.

They drew their swords the second they saw us.

We did the same.

Qrow and I charged in for an advantage.

Both guards were surprised that we charged so recklessly.

However, they didn't know we were just using it to get closer.

They must have been new, because they couldn't tell that we were going to dodge their strikes.

Qrow and I ducked under their swings; we launched up and put our blades through their necks.

We killed them with but a scratch.

At least, I thought we did.

It was only when I noticed that Qrow was on the ground that I realized he had been stabbed in the part of his chest that houses one's heart.

My last remaining friend was dead Goddess damn it.


	12. Chapter 12: Side Ozpin

Chapter 12

Betrayal

I arrived at the secret passage way into the castle.

This passage was added not long after the castle was built two hundred years ago.

There had been eight different rulers since then.

Each of differing levels of violent and smart.

The more violent rulers were quickly killed off by even more violent ones.

Though overall most of them did' t last long, since back then living past thirty was an accomplishment worthy of a feast.

Most, if not all rulers usually had very violent ends at the hands of others.

A few did live to the mighty age of forty years old though.

I delve deeper into the passage.

I softly put my footsteps on the floor, trying my best to make as little sound as possible.

This place is so secret that not even my children know of its existence as part of the castle.

Sometimes you have to keep secrets even from your family.

However, in most cases, your family won't be thinking about how to kill you in your sleep without rousing suspicion.

I made to the door at the end of the passage.

You may be thinking about how I could keep it secret if there is a door that could be easily found.

The answer is simple.

Make the door appear as if it is part of the wall.

It was actually rather hard to use it as an escape plan, because inside the castle, it was pretty much impossible to find it.

Paranoia is useful sometimes.

This is one of those times.

I open the door.

I go through and close it behind me.

"_Sigh_" Time to find out what's going wrong.

Many things have gone wrong, apparently.

As I suddenly notice a few corpses on the floor in the hallway.

What in Tartarus happened?

I go over to the bodies and check them.

The smell seemed to indicate that these unlucky bastards died half an hour ago.

They were wearing standard guard armour, complete with the standard ranking tattoo symbol on their arms.

It looks like there was a fight between them, as there is one guard with a standard guard sword sticking out of where his heart would be.

Now that I look closer, it appears said guard was one of the Sergeants.

Qrow was his name I think.

Glynda talked kindly of him.

He was good at keeping the men in line.

He was loyal.

"Dammit..." I mutter under my breath.

Life is cruel and short.

But that's that.

I can't dwell on every death that has happened.

Right now, I need to focus on preventing more deaths.

I started running down the hallway with speed.

As I ran, I noticed more and more bodies pop up.

Not just guards, but some servants and royal court members as well.

I hope to the Goddess that my family is fine.

Maria, my wife.

I'm coming for you!

My daughter Ruby as well!

None of you will die under my watch!

None of you!

I will make sure of it!

I made it to the throne room.

My wife would be there.

She had to be there!

She must be there!

I opened the door.

"Maria!" Now I wish that I never opened it.

Her head was on a pike in that had been stabbed into the floor.

No...

No.

NO!

"AAARRRGGHHH!" I roar with anger in my lungs!

Why?!

WHY!?

WHY DID THEY HAVE TO KILL HER?!

"Heheheh."

My roar of anger was cut silent by the sound of cackling laughter.

It was the type of laughter you would hear when someone was laughing at a joke.

It was infuriating.

There was only one person I knew who would ever laugh like that at such a situation.

That someone was sitting on the throne.

With a crooked smile on her face.

Someone of my own blood.

"Cinder." I said with a growl.

"Hello father." Cinder said with a crooked smile on her face.

"Why, why, WHY!" I shouted.

"Because, I felt it was time for your departure from the throne father." She said, grin still on her face.

I just wanted to slap her across her damn cheek and put an arrow in her putrid stomach.

She was just asking to be beaten to a pulp with her smug attitude.

"Sorry about mother, she just didn't agree to my plan." She laughed heartily to herself as she said it.

She is insane, utterly unhinged.

But I guess that runs in the family at this point.

Well I need to end it.

I will end it.

My blood will end the curse of madness that runs through them.

And it will begin with killing Cinder.

"I almost forgot, Ruby had a couple guards assigned to her, and..." Cinder tried to hold in her laughter.

"Let's just say that she won t be joining us!" She cackled.

She needs to die.

Now.

"Guards!"

"Oh, they won't help you father!" I realized in horror what had happened.

"Because their guards that I snuck into the guard!" She cackled incessantly.

"It was during the recruitment drive that you had Captain Glynda initiate!" She Bellowed loudly.

"In other words."She spoke, as if she was putting on a show for all to watch.

"That your own decision led to your downfall! Ahahahaha!" She laughed violently out loud.

"You little bratty bitch!" I shouted at her.

"Oh and talking about Captain Glynda." She continued.

"She should be currently having a meeting with a few of the new recruits right now." Brata said gleefully with a psychotic smile.

There is no bigger bitch than one who is insulting you with the truth.

Stuff like that just makes the whole moment feel even more like something you would see in a play.

I never like those kinds of plays.

That's why when Glynda broke the door; I was the one that had a big stupid smile on my face.

"My liege!" The loyal Captain shouted.

"Captain!" I said with pure, complete, utter happiness.

"Simple mercenaries will never best me!" Glynda bellowed at the ones who would harm her king.

"I will protect you My King!" She charged swiftly towards the enemies.

One of Cinder's guards got in her way.

That guard's whole body was on the floor within seconds.

Well, the two halves of the guard's body were on the ground within seconds.

I admit that I have never seen Glynda go completely lethal in her attacks, but I guess this is it.

Captain Glynda carried on in her charge with no loss of speed.

"YOU SHALL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE!" She shouted at the top of his lungs.  
"No, I don t think I will." Cinder said with a cruel Cheshire grin.

"Wait Glynda sh-!" But it was too late.

My warning was much too late to be of any help at all to her.

As Captain Glynda, the person I trusted the most, the woman that had been one of the most loyal and optimistic people in the whole of The Kingdom Of Vale, was dead.

She was still standing, sword raised.

However, she was most definitely dead.

This was because being dead while still standing was what happened when you are frozen to death by an ice spell from a wizard.

Her frozen corpse was stuck completely in place.

"Well, that went better than I expected." Said an old Tenor pitched voice.

God dammit.

Why does everyone I trust end either dead or decide to betray me!?

Why!?

WHY!?

GODDESS DAMN IT!

Watts stepped into the light of the room.

"Sorry, my King, but I chose the winning side." He said.

Winning side my arse.

More like the jack arse side.

"Guards, lock him up please if you don t mind doing so." Cinder said kindly to her men.

They immediately complied and grabbed me off the floor.

I did not try to escape this.

This made the guards angry as they didn't get to hit me for resisting.

Well.

I'm tired of this.

I'm tired of the betrayal.

Tired of the deaths.

Tired of the utter chaos that is happening around me now.

I'm tired of it all.

I wish that it would all end.

For the world to go peaceful again.

Right now!

I want it to end!

Why? Is life ever fair?

Why must they take away everything?

Why must the world be so cruel?


	13. Chapter 13: Side Weiss

Chapter 13

Death

It was nice to finally be back at the Capital.

Or at least near it.

We were still in the forest, but it was much nicer to go through this time.

The Empire of Mistral had sent some of their soldiers to help clear out the monsters that had been attacking everyone.

That is everyone who had used the route we had been on and currently were on again.

It was rather pleasant this time.

What with not being chased by monsters or having an arrow put through a shoulder.

It was nice.

However, this was Remnant; nice things don't last more than a day here.

"You think the King will pay us this time?" Yang asked suddenly.

For once, Yang asked a question that all of us pretty much wanted answered.

Were we going to be paid for this?

We weren't paid for killing the Emperor.

Okay, almost killing the Emperor.

Still, since that mission, we haven't actually been paid.

I do hope we are paid, as we are running low on pretty much everything at the moment.

Money.

Food.

Drink.

Cloth to fix our clothes.

Favours from people.

We really need something at this point!

Anyway, I can see the walls of the Capital now.

I hope that not much has changed in the last five or so days.

Has it really been five days?

My log book that I use to keep track of time says so.

But is it true?

Are my own thoughts telling me the truth?

Monsters.

Witches.

Old religious zealots.

Was that all real?

Or was it all in my head?

I have to ask my friends about it.

Wait.

Friends?

Are they my friends?

They accompany me on my missions; they talk to me and have chats to pass the time.

But does that make us friends?

Surely it does.

Right?

Doesn't it?

"Are we friends?" I say out loud.

I wait for a response from the others.

"Of course we are, otherwise we wouldn't bother talking." Said Yang, unexpectedly.

"You guys are the first and only friends I've had." Said Velvet sheepishly.

Well, I just wanted to confirm it in my mind." I Replied sheepishly as well myself.

"Why's that?" Yang asked.

"It's just that I've never really trusted people." They look at me with confusion.

"Carry on..." Yang seemed to be interested in finding out why I don't trust people.

"I made mistakes and people took advantage of me because of that." Images of my sister Winter and master come to mind.

"Well, you don't have say it for us to tell." Yang said this with a hint of sarcasm.

"Ha ha, Yang, it's so funny." I said back with a slick amount of sarcasm.

"You aren't allowed to talk that after some of the mess ups you got us in, Yang. " Velvet.

"Look, it was only that one time with the demi-human lady, how was I supposed to know that she was our target!?" Yang shouted in defence of her obviously impulsive and perverted actions.

"We were specifically told who she was." I said.

"We weren- "Velvet cut Yang off immediately.

"We were also shown a picture of what she roughly looked like, which you immediately stole when you thought no-one was looking and still have in your rucksack to this day."

"Look it was just-"

"It has been two years since that mission Yang." I said with satisfaction.

Velvet and I started laughing out loud at her misfortune.

"Screw you guys!" Yang said childishly in frustration and embarrassment.

We were just about reaching the gate into the Capital.

"Was what we saw real?" I asked.

"I don't want to know to be honest." Yang replied.

"Well, we certainly will have a tough time getting the King to believe us." Velvet was right on so many levels that she might as well have been on top of the tallest tower in the Capital.

Which was around five floors.

Yeah, didn't think that through, did I.

We arrived at the gate to the capital, there was a guard standing watch.

"Hey, mind letting us in?" Yang went asked the guard at the gate.

"Papers please." The guard ordered.

"Here you go." I handed the papers over to the guard, he took a second to read them before his eyes widened.

"Oh shit." Said the guard aloud.

"What's wrong?" Velvet asked nervously.

"You guys shouldn't be here!" Said the guard.

"And why is that?" Yang asked.

"The King is dead!"

That sentence took a moment to register.

"Dead." I said, trying to wrap my head around what he said.

"Yeah, you guys gotta leave, or else Queen Cinder's guards are gonna kill you!"

"Cinder is in charge?"

"She killed the King!"

"Oh Goddess, oh Goddess!" Velvet had entered a panic at what she was hearing.

"Are you sure the King is dead?"

"They threw him in the dungeon." The guard replied almost immediately.

Okay, going to the dungeon is basically a death sentence.

The King isn't dead, just going to be very soon.

No one survives the dungeons.

"We need to leave right now!" Velvet, I couldn't agree more.

"I'll be coming with!" The guard stated with no allowance for argument, obviously wanting to get out of this death-trap.

"Sure, why not." I said.

The guard showed that he wasn't new to life in Vale by sneaking out using the backup hidden door at the side.

"Not even I knew that door existed." Yang was seemingly awestruck.

"Stop lying you layabout." I deadpanned in response.

"Okay I heard a rumour about it." Velvet gave a look that said _bullcrap_.

"I may have used it once." Oh really.

"Or twice." Not even the guard believed that.

"I used it three times okay!" Wrong again.

"I'm not lying!"

"Yeah right, and my mother was a Vacuoan with a hundred slaves willing to do her bidding while eating Imperials for breakfast."

Try again you liar.

"Okay, I used it eight times." That's more like it.

We were just about to leave when we heard a whisk of an arrow.

We all turned, except for Yang, who gasped and fell to the ground clutching her throat.

There was an arrow protruding from it.

Not good.

We all ran for cover, in an effort of trying to escape with our lives.

The only guard on our side succeeded in escaping.

Obviously because he had eaten a breakfast which allowed him to get away fast enough with a full stomach.

Unfortunately, Velvet and I weren't full at all, thus we were quickly caught by the other guards.

"Damn it!" Velvet tried to wriggle out of her newly added restraints.

She was then promptly kicked down onto the ground.

The same happened to me.

"Gahh!" I shouted in agony as my guy aimed for my neither region.

It really freaking hurt from their metal gauntlets.

Now I know why Velevt wears hers, they're pretty useful when you wanna bash someone to the ground with your hands.

As they put shackles on us with a click, and kicked us in front of another guard, it set in what had happened.

My friend was dead.

Yang was dead...

Damn it!

Why does everything have to end in tragedy?

Why!?

"Well, you girls are gonna have no vocal cords once I'm done with you!" Said an armoured woman with greenish hair, who seemed to be leader of the group of Cinder's guards.

Just then, another guard ran up to the group.

He stopped in front of the armoured woman, and whispered something in her ear.

She looked a bit angry afterwards.

"Damn it..." She muttered.

She herself turned back to us.

"Well, I guess killing you is off the table."

"Why's that?" Velvet asks.

One of the guards promptly punches her in the stomach.

Velvet lands face-first onto the ground in pain.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised if they are brutal, they are _Cinder's_ guards.

"The King wants some of poor old Ozpin's servants alive to watch his execution!"

Oh.

That's why she hasn't killed us, okay I really wanna stab a quilt into this woman's palm so much right now.

"Afterwards, she said I could use said servants for entertainment purposes" She stared at me perversely.

Oh Goddess, I hope she doesn't mean what I think she means.

I heard stories about what happened to attractive magicians when captured by the enemy.

I just really hope they aren't true.

"Hello there, Whitie!"

Kill me already.

I mean it.

Hang me.

Gut me like a fish.

Throw to the wolves.

I want to die right now and join Yang in the afterlife.

I miss Yang.

I miss that annoying lazy bitch so much.


	14. Chapter 14: Side Jaune

Chapter 14

Questions

How long have we been running?

This isn't a rhetorical question or anything.

I really am wondering how long we have been running.

I start to slow down a bit actually pay attention and study my surroundings.

Wow..

We're in the forest.

That means we ran from the castle, through the entire city, out one of the three gates, and into the forest.

All without stopping or being stopped.

That is impressive.

But how come no one stopped us?

Did we just run past them?

Or did I hack my way through them?

I don't know and can't remember.

And I probably never will, judging by the fact that I most likely never enter that city again in order to find out.

Not that I want to know anyways.

What's important now is protecting the Princess.

Wait.

The Princess!

"Princess?" I ask worriedly.

"Huh?.." She replies groggily as she tries to stay awake.

Crap!

I've been dragging her the whole time!

I stop and try to see if she is hurt.

No, she isn't hurt.

Just tired, very very tired.

Like _she can't walk anymore_ type of tired.

"Can you hear me Princess?"

"You *pant* are *pant* too fast." She tries to say.

"Way *pant* way too fast." She manages to get out out as well.

"What in Tartarus do you do in order to pull off something like that?!"

"Get an overzealous Guard Captain, ten weeks worth of time, and a barrel of beer every single week." I say.

"Glynda put you through that?"

"Who else would, even Qrow was scared of the damn trainin-" I stopped dead before I finished my sentence.

Qrow was dead.

Why do I keep reminding myself of that?

Because deep down, I don't want to believe it for a second?

"What do we do now?" Princess Ruby asked me.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?!" She shouted into my ear.

"I meant I don't know!" I shouted right back at her.

We stopped shouting at each other for a few seconds, creating an awkward silence.

"So Pri-." I said in order to break it.

*Ckk!*

But it turns out I didn't need to.

"Do you hear someone?" Are the words that end up coming out instead.

She immediately looks around the area at the trees, fear obvious across her face.

Looking for any sign of someone or something that created the sound that put us both on edge.

"Who's there!?" I awkwardly shout into the vast forest.

*Ckk!* *Ckk!* *Ckk!*

I hear several cracks along the ground, either coming from behind us or to our right.

Whatever it is, it's getting closer to us.

"Maybe shouting wasn't the best idea."

"Hello?!" Someone, possibly a man by the sound of the voice, shouted out from the trees.

"Who are you?!" I shouted right back.

"Who are you?!" The person parroted my words.

"Come out of the forest!" I shouted loud enough for him to hear.

This will either be not so bad of an idea, or it will be the stupidest idea that I've ever had in my entire 20 years of life.

Let's see which it is, shall we?

The man walked into view.

"You trying to escape too?" It was a guard that looked as if he had just ran the market rally.

Which is about 5 kilometres, mind you.

It was impossible to win against Glynda, she won every single time .

"Yeah, how'd you get out?" I asked the tired guard.

"I was on gate shift." That explains a lot.

Gate guards not only know how to open the gates, but are immediately closest to an exit out of the city.

The bastards were also always quick runners for some unthinkable reason.

I wonder if cowardice had something to do with that.

I tried helping some of King Ozpin's mercenaries out, but Cinder's new guards stepped in and killed them all with bolts." He said.

"How many mercenaries were there?" I asked.

"About three, one was wearing a red cloak."

Damn.

Weiss and her companions were dead as well.

It's tragic, when you think about it.

They went through all the crap in helping carry out the King's orders.

And what did they get for it?

Being gut like fish.

"You know where we can go?" The Princess asked so suddenly that it scared both me and the fellow guard.

The guard, unlike me, quickly found his composure and related some details to us.

"You re saying that we should go to an abandoned castle; try to gather people to our cause, which will be to take back the Capitol from Cinder, and then rule with fairness over the land?" It looked as if Princess Ruby was going to stab him with anything that she could grab.

But suddenly.

"Alright, let's get going." I stare at her, completely flabbergasted.

"You agree with him?!" I shouted.

"Yes I do, Jaune." She said with an icy coldness to her voice.

I immediately decided that it would be a better idea to keep my mouth shut.

"As much of a fairy-tale that kids would be told by their parents the plan is." She said with a weird confidence.

I don't like where this is going.

"We will try our best to go through with it."

I'm starting to think that running away from even these people is not such a bad idea.

Well, lead us to the abandoned castle, Guard!"

"Yes I will, Princess!" The guard responded enthusiastically.

"Come on, Jean!" The Princess shouted.

"My name's Jaune." I said in a complete monotone as the despair took over. !

"Whatever, let's get going!"

She and the guard started moving towards what is either the direction of the abandoned castle or completely nowhere.

"We are the rebels!"

"Yes we are!"

"We shall destroy Cinder!" She follows the guard as he leads us to the castle.

My life is turned upside down.

I was a simple guard in The Kingdom Of Vale.

I lived a life of simple patrols and looking forward to the next drink.

Then guards started being found dead.

Vicious monsters attacked the Capital.

My best friend got killed by said vicious monsters tearing him apart with half of the other guards.

I got depressed and had to be snapped out of it by my Sergeant, whom I somehow became friends with.

I got caught up in a plan consisting of regicide concocted by an Amoral Princess with a lust for power.

My sergeant, along with every guard that had been my friend was killed.

I ran away from the Capital with The Princess in tow.

And now I m part of a rebellion effort to take back The Kingdom.

That's it.

I've finally cracked.

I've cracked badly.

Very badly.

This is what s it s like to be mad, isn't it?

I'm gonna start seeing the ghosts of all my dead friends next or something.

No?

No old friends that died?

No family members that passed away?

Not even my drunken uncle Jeramiah?

Nor my creepy aunt Sikma?

Then I guess I m stuck with these two.

No.

I'm not mad.

I'm perfectly sane.

It's just the world around is mad.

The people in it are just trying to get by without becoming part of it.

Life really sucks then.

Well, if there s one thing that life is merciful in.

One thing I know with full knowledge and belief in.

It's that life goes on.

Is that how it goes?

I can't be bothered to remember at this point.


	15. Chapter 15: Side Ozpin

Chapter 15

Valour

Here I am.

Stuck in a prison cell.

A prison cell in my OWN castle.

Well, it was my castle.

That was until almost my loyal soldiers and servants were killed.

Which would equal to around a hundred or so people, now that I think about it.

A hundred people.

That's a lot of people when you consider that the population of The Capitol is only around twenty thousand.

A hundred people all killed in one gruesome night.

That should be about zero point five percent of everyone that lives here.

That is, if I remember the numbers that my tutor taught me when I was younger.

He would have hit me if I got it wrong.

Whatever happened to my tutor?

Ah, yes.

Now I remember.

He was found face-first on the ground, dead in an alleyway.

His throat slashed open.

His eyes full of complete and utter terror at the complete hindrance of being murdered.

Along with all of the coin he had on his person having been taken.

I was told the news the next day.

I still wonder who killed him.

Cause I would have loved to thank them by giving them a hearty pat on the back.

I suddenly hear a sound of a door opening.

Ah, they're here.

Men clad in armour made of iron plate, covered head to toe.

The escorts that would be taking me to my execution.

What took the bastards so long?

Its being a full day or two since that little shit Cinder took over.

You'd think with all that youthful energy, she'd get things done quicker.

But no, everything that needs to be done will be done at exactly the same pace.

The whole thing about being a Ruler was like that.

Except when it came to problems.

Those were always changing.

Always.

Enemies.

Rivals.

Monsters.

Bandits.

Barbarians.

Rebels.

Betrayers.

Idiots.

The idiots where always the biggest problems.

You wouldn't think so at first, what damage could an idiot do?

Oh, you would be surprised.

One idiot I knew once upon a time lost an entire army in a single engagement.

That idiot's name was General Whitley.

He got to become the general due to his father having been the previous general.

His father, a man named Jacques, had begged me to put his son as the new general.

The other royal families begged me too.

I decided that if all of them were begging to put the boy as the new general, then I might as well oblige.

That was a very stupid decision on my part.

He was a complete spoiled brat and way too arrogant.

I'm happy that I had him executed by hanging.

It at least made the loss of an army all the more bearable.

Wait.

What's going on around me now?

I'm being dragged across the ground by the guards right now, I'm a bit bruised as well around my knees.

The guards seem off-put.

Like they're scared.

Scared of what?

Me?

Why would they be scared of me?

I try to look at one of them, but he keeps turning his head to avoid eye contact.

They're scared of me.

Is it that I haven't struggled, that I barely moved, that I haven't said a single word the entire time at all?

This is a very weird feeling.

Despite the fact that I am at my most weakest, it only serves to somehow make them more afraid of me.

This wouldn't make sense in a world of normalcy.

But then again, this world we live isn't exactly normal, is it?

There is an entire Nation composed of animal-like humans along with some of the most powerful wizards in the world.

There is an Empire that hates anything to do with anything not completely and utterly human, even Faunus are hated and killed without mercy there.

And then we have a wasteland that is full of cannibalistic bastards whom sometimes were horribly keen on doing certain things to their prisoners that caused the whole place to be rarely traveled to, except with an armoured escort of at least twenty fighters.

Is the Kingdom Of Vale and the events that have transpired in it really seem not that normal?

If anything, what's happening now in front of me is the most normal thing to happen in the last century.

My eyes suddenly squint.

I see light.

Sunlight.

That's a good sign, right?

Wait.

Aren't I being dragged to my execution?

Then sunlight is in fact immediately a bad sign.

That means that I m getting quite close to the guillotine.

Ah, the guillotine.

I never liked the contraption.

But it was less messy than the alternative of having an executioner cut the person s head off with an axe.

Much less messy.

And much quicker than an axe.

It was impossible for the executioner to get a perfect cut in one strike.

I was now been pushed up the stairs of the platform the guillotine was on.

This was when I noticed something else strange.

There was no sound.

Either there were no people around, which was kind of impossible as thousands watched the executions.

Or everyone was being quiet.

Why?

Was it because it was me that was being executed?

That's strange.

Did the populace really like me that much?

Did they like me as their King enough that they were being quiet out of respect to me at my own execution?

I feel a bit of satisfaction at that.

I was good enough at being King that the people I was ruling over enjoyed it.

They were happy.

That is what a King should really be after.

It was at this moment that I also noticed that Cinder was waiting on top of the platform.

"Hello, Father."

"Hello daughter." She seemed a little cross at that.

Probably felt that it made her inferior to me.

Which the little brat was if I'm gonna be honest.

"You should refer to me as Queen!"

Fat chance.

"I'll be dead in a minute, why should I bother with something that won't matter?"

That seemed to piss her off even more.

"You should do so while you still have time, old man." A horrid grin was on her face.

If there is one thing that I have to say about her, it's that she is shit at coming up with insults, old man is so generic!

That grin of hers was piss-poor!

I flash a grin of my own right back at her.

The guards loosen their grip on my arms at the sight of it.

Cinder steps back for a moment, a sign of fear is plastered all over on her face.

That scared ya!

Try that grin of yours again and I'll show you my best grin I have!

But that moment ends, as she quickly works to get back her calm composure.

"You're a dead man, Father." She's trying to make me scared of her and her control over my final moments is slipping.

Well, I'm not letting her have any control over me.

I choose the way I am when I die.

And that will be anything to piss off this little arsehole!

"That means I got nothing more to lose to you, Brat." I quip back with cheek.

His eyes stare at me with a visible glow of rage in them.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

I think that marks my exit from this life.

"KILL HIM, KILL HIM NOW!" She shouted uncontrollably at the executioners.

Yep, I definitely pissed her off.

I let out a laugh in celebration.

I may be a fool, but fools have the last laugh.

"KILL HIM BEFORE I HAVE YOU EXECUTED FOR TREASON YOU IDIOTS!"She shouted absolutely livid.

The guards didn't need any more pushing to do what they were told, they began to drag me onto the guillotine.

They pushed me down and made sure my head lined up with the blade.

They were being panicky and clumsy with their movements.

Funny.

The only person not scared or angry at this execution is the person being executed.

I guess life just works like that.

Cinder was screaming out her lungs so much that it seemed like she would break her voice.

That would be nice.

It would at least shut her up for once.

The little brat.

All the while the crowd watched.

The blade started to fall towards me.

I guess I'm happy with myself, happy despite the fact that I m gonna be dead soon.

But it doesn't matter to me anymore.

I robbed Cinder of the one thing she wanted most.

Cinder wanted me to be scared of her.

But I was never scared of her.

Never in all my life, and my death.


End file.
